Opera Drama... literally right after the opera on night 4, Will's back went out... This makes for a miserable Wodie. Thank goodness it was after everything that is extraneous.  He's been taking it easy, getting in some extra visits to the hot tub, and is highly medicated. Hopefully he'll be up and at 'em come Sunday. Say a prayer for him, if you're into that kinda thing.

We both stayed in camp during the hike on Day 5. The hike hadn't yet been done this summer due to snow still on the mountain. A day earlier, the ODC (outdoor crew) boys made the hike possible by shoveling waist deep snow off the path. Everyone was supposed to get back around 2:30 but 4 rolled around and we thought, "Must have been some hike."  Devon and Justin showed up around 4:30 with a story to tell... The campers hiked up to the snack site. When they got there someone comes running down the mountain saying that their jeep flipped, they don't have any phones, and they have a woman injured. We have a doctor and 2 nurses on hand. By the grace of God, the hike was possible that day. Due to the delay, the campers had to sit at the snack site around 1 1/2 hours. I've heard the woman was sent to the hospital with a back injury and is recovering. Seemed like a crazy day.

Sorry I forgot to get my camera for Night 4. Don't worry, I got 3 more tries.

Livin the Life at Frontier Ranch

It's Day 4 here at Frontier Ranch and as most of you know tonight is "the night that never ends" therefore I'm gearing up and saving some energy for tonight.

As of right now, I can't complain one bit. I haven't been able to say that since the very beginning of May. I believe (and I don't want to jinx myself) that I'm turning that corner out of first trimester blues. The first few days in Colorado were rough due to the altitude on top of pregnancy.  I was meeting all these people for the first time and could hardly keep up a conversation. I was down thinking, "They must think I'm some program spouse bia." But I woke up on Monday morning and thought, "I feel good??!!" I couldn't wait to tell Will and start having a great time really getting to know people better.

Our Assign Team is the bomb. I feel like I've known mostly everyone (but more so the staff spouses) for a long time now...not 3 1/2 days. Conversation with everyone is so natural. Housing is a little crazy compared to our assignments at SharpTop with everyone kinda scattered around. We are in Chief with the Accardi's and the Bailey's which is the perfect setup for program team and their families.

Will is in Opera Practice right now. They are killin' it. Everyone is amazed at their (Will, Devon, and Justin) chemistry. While listening to Will and Devon banter on the mics during the volleyball tournament, Erin and I realized that it's so natural because this is what they do pretty much every Tuesday night when we watch The Biggest Loser or Hoarders or anything else we do with them. We will miss them a lot, but for now we are just enjoying them. In related news, our "official" Godson, Cameron Accardi, took is his first steps yesterday!! We all screamed in excitement and then he decided he was done entertaining.

Hopefully I'll grab some photos of tonight!

Becoming Houstonians

Our first week in Houston was full of apartment hunting and sports. After a few days of seeing options in the area we landed on a nice looking, one bedroom apartment that is about a mile from the school. http://www.amli.com/apartments/houston/eldridge-parkway/  We first passed the apartment complex because we thought it looked out of our league, but u-turned it, and thought what the hay (or hey?). We met Isela, who showed us around the complex and into some rooms. It became our favorite and the price was around do-able. Isela is a quirky, thirty something woman, who had a hard time recognizing us everytime we came in...

To Jess: "Did you color your hair?... You cut it?... Oh, You look so different."
To Will: "If you shaved, I would not recognize you."

Also sports...The week we got there was the beginning of the NBA Finals in which we automatically became Mavs fans and rooted our boys onto victory. We also went to an Astros game...

Will went to another one while I was in Nashville for the Cleckner/Sadler Wedding... Stros lost both. Not the best timing to become Stros fans.

On Monday, we packed up our car yet again, and headed North to Bryson, Texas to stay with my parents for 2 nights to break up our drive to Frontier. Being with my dad, you're always into an adventure like...turtle hunting.

caught one!

My parents have a big pond in their backyard where they have about 30 catfish. As my dad is walking to feed them, he starts hootin n hollerin, and sure enough you start to see ripples, then waves as the catfish get excited for dinner! It was one of those gross but cool things to watch them all eat. I couldn't quite get a good action shot of them all eating. It seemed that everytime I took a picture they went back down into the water. 

As you can tell my parents love Texas.

A little glimpse why.

On to Frontier....

The Promised Land

We finally made it! 

We left Knoxville last Monday afternoon and drove the long haul to Chattanooga, Tn. We did have to stop at Target in Cleveland, Tn to get up and walk around. Our friends, the Spillmans were great hosts to us in Chattanooga, even though Will couldn't handle the smell of the town. 

We left at 8am on Tuesday and Will drove to Baton Rouge, La. I was scared that we would have to stop a bunch if I wasn't feeling well. But really i started feeling a little better. We got to Baton Rouge around 4 and went to their "Turkey Creek". Ate dinner, where I finally felt like I could eat something with substance i.e. Lettuce Wraps. Then, we went to go see Bridesmaids. Real Funny. 

We rolled into Houston on Wednesday around 2:30. We are staying with a couple, Tom and Beth Robertson, who are on our committee and who we've become quick friends with. We pulled onto their street and were greeted with banners, confetti, the referrizzles, food, friends, and a big gift basket! We were shocked! We weren't expecting anything like it!

We've been here a couple of days now and a few things are sure:

It's hot. Like real hot. Hot like Hell.

The tex-mex is as good as I remember.

We are in good hands.

and....

our baby is a healthy, heart-beating, 1.71 cm Son of a Gun!

The head is on the right and the rump is on the left. Our due date is January 11, 2012. After the appointment, we both felt more at ease, knowing that 'yes, it's there! We really are pregnant' 

Physically, I'm feeling a lot better than I was. I'm still not %100, nor at normal eating habits, but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Thanks for beginning this journey with us. We love and appreciate your support just by your interest in reading about us. Will and I are really excited to be able to keep everyone up to date on our lives and ALL the new changes happening. Come back for more!